The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-02-05
Editnrial 8rtets.
BY REV. I. N. ATWOOD. D. D.
Canton, n. Y.

A MAN fit to be a Senator in the Cor
gress of the United States, will not 60 to
Albany, or any other State capital, hire
headquarters and personally superintend
his canvass" This is a proposition the
truth of which admits of no exception.
Nor is it desirable or necessary that he
should have a political lieutenant, to
manage his eight" The election of q
Senator is the business of the legislature.
The means of discussion and informa-
ton are ample. The press of the State
and of the country is sure to find out and
publish whatever needs be known. With
such opportunities of ascertaining both
the fitness of candidates and the popular
will with respect TO them, the legislature
is competent to decide; and it is its con-
stitutional duty to decide. Let not the
candidate make an indecent spectacle Of
HIMSELF let no friends" make au inde-
cent spectacle in his behalf.
The response which Prof. Huxley
makes to his part of the indictment
framed by Mr. Lilly against him, in CON-
mon with Herbert Spencer and the late
Prof Clifford, is as interesting as any
thing Mr. Huxley has written. The spirit
of it is admirable, the augmentation
lucid, the style well nigh perfect. Prof.
Huxley disclaims rhetorical art, and pro-
tests that he never thinks Of vanishing
the fair face of truth with that pestilent
| 0nGOoafIa5 n - Nat Ia &c li+Ororrr
as much as Matthew Arnold or DR..
Holmes. In his case, too, the charm
comes in large degree from the fine
correspondence which one feels between
perspicuous thought and adequate ex-
preston.
Mr.. Huxley denies again that he is
properly classed as a materialist. He
takes care to draw himself out of the
spiritualist crowd, also. "Spiritualisrl
lands me in greater difficulties" he re-
marks. He is, as he long ago classified
himself, an Agnostic. He thus defines
the materialisln from which he dissents:
the doctrine that "there is nothing in the
universe but matter and force, and that
all the phenomena of nature are expli-
cable by deduction from the properties
assignable to these primitive factors"
What the something else, other than
matter and force is, in the universe, he
seems diffident about declaring But he
routs Buchner and the rest, foot and
horse. Huxley would be suitable man
to employin preparing Part of Primer
of Natural Theology.
The doctrine of the Brahma- Somai,
of the Mystics, of Michael de Molinos, is
one at the root. 1t is, in short the doc
trlne that by contemplation or protracted
and intense prayer, joined with absolute
surrender of the will to God, the soul
passes into a condition of conscious rap
port with God, sees spiritual things as
they are and becomes a receptacle of res
velation. There is, without doubt, danger
in such theory, as well as in the exer-
cises which it requires, the danger that
sundry ecstasies and fances, often the
reflex of the individuals pet opinions,
may be mistaken for an access Of heavenly
light.
Yet there is a deep truth here. The
facts of the Divine Being, of the human
spirit, of the exact relations between these
two, and of the principles so involved, are
what they are. No reasonings nor intel.
lectual speculations can make them other
than what they are. 1t is plain that some
members of our race see these facts much
more clearly than others. 1t is plain,
also, that those who see most of these
facts and see them most clearly, are they
who go by insight and not by calculation.
Is 1t not probable that the method recon-
mended by the mystics would greatly in
crease the spiritual discernment of all
persons?
Senator ingalls, aptly styled the
Edmunds bill, authorizing the President
to prohibit Canadian fishermen from
entering our ports to get supplies, as "an
eye for an eye, fish for fish bill" He
recognized it as belonging to the old dis
pensation-the law of retaliation. Sen.
ator Ingalls, did not object to the bill on
that account; far from if. He was ready
for large measure of retaliation-for a
declaration Of war, in fact. 1t is still the
rule of nations, as it is of corporations
and individual business men, for the most
part, to try first the effect of stones, and
afterwards, if the "harder arguments" fail,
Gas they usually do) to try what virtue
there is in persuasion. The chorus OF
applause with which the action of the
Senate has been greeted, from all parts
of the country, shows how far we yet are
from the profession of Christian prin-
ciples.
1t does not follow, we are sorry to
say, that opportunity and facilities for
transferring church property to the Gus
tody of the Convention, will insure such
transfer, even in cases where it is abso-
lutely essential to prevent the property
from being lost or alienated. Between
indifference and self-mterest the action
IS delayed; and experience proves that
the longer it is delayed the less likely is
it to be taken. In the State of New
York alone, are as many as thirty such
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